Chapter 2

After taking a shower, I asked the housekeeper to heat me a glass of milk.

Once I had calmed down, I still believed Claire.

Our families were close, and Claire and I had grown up together. I knew exactly who had come and gone from her life.

That man’s appearance was suspicious, but I had never considered him a threat.

To put it bluntly, a man of his standing didn’t even qualify to stand within three feet of Claire.

Still…

I smiled helplessly.

“She could at least try to comfort me a little more. A man’s heart is pretty small, you know.”

My phone suddenly lit up with more than a dozen friend requests.

Who was this? Had something happened to the puppy Claire and I adopted from the animal shelter?

【Hello, I’m Julian Hayes.】

The familiar tone gave me a bad feeling.

【I really, really love Claire. She’s the only woman I’ll ever love.】

【You already have so much. Can you give her to me?】

【I’ll die without her.】

My fists cracked as I clenched them.

I wasn’t going to indulge a lunatic like this. I immediately replied:

【Why should I give her to you? Because you’re insane? If you want to die, I’ll send flowers to your funeral.】

Julian replied almost instantly.

【Because I love her. I fell hopelessly in love with her the first time I saw her.】

【No one in this world loves her more than I do. Not even you.】

【Why are you so determined to refuse?】

【You two will never have a happy ending. You’re going to die horribly.】

【I’m the one Claire is destined to be with!】

If I had still been amused by the spectacle a moment ago, that ended the instant he cursed me to die horribly.

I blocked the lunatic.

He clearly had no intention of letting it go. Furious, he started sending text messages instead.

【You blocked me because you feel guilty, didn’t you? Guilty that your love can’t compare to mine.】

【Claire will be my wife!】

【Our names both have the same middle sound. Do you really think that’s a coincidence?】

【Guess how I got your number. Of course Claire gave it to me, you ignorant clown.】

The more he talked, the crazier he sounded. But his final message reminded me of something.

Very few people had my private number.

Could he really be Claire’s lover?

Fine.

I blocked his number too, then sent screenshots of the messages to Claire.

A few minutes later, she called.

“Ethan, don’t pay attention to that lunatic.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Would Miss Carter like to explain?”

Her voice turned slightly aggrieved.

“He’s one of the students the Carter Group sponsors. But you know how these large-scale sponsorship programs work. Everything gets delegated. I’ve never even met him.”

“Ethan, you can’t fight with me over some crazy person.”

There was a slight nasal quality to her voice. It was the way Claire always sounded when she was trying to act cute with me.

I often teased her for sounding like a kitten, always purring and whining.

And unfortunately, it worked on me every time.

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

“Claire, I believe you. Because I love you.”

I could imagine her grinning from ear to ear.

In our relationship, Claire had always been the more forward one.

I had been sickly since childhood, and that had made her take care of me more often.

Everything she did was direct, bold, and passionate—including the way she loved me.

When I gained weight from being sick as a child and my parents strictly controlled my diet, she secretly brought me delicate pastries.

When we were in school, a boy once gave her a love letter. I immediately darkened with jealousy, and Claire rejected him right in front of me.

“Ethan is the only man I’ll ever love.”

She was a spoiled heiress, but she had never acted like one in front of me. Worried about my health, she even developed a healthy meal plan and cooked for me herself.

Whenever we argued, we never went to bed angry. Usually, she would come over making those soft little noises, take my hand, and shake it until I finally cracked. Then she would bury herself in my arms.

Claire and I had grown up together. We were made for each other.

If someone like Julian had appeared in her life, how could I not know?

“Ethan, are you laughing?”

“If you are, then you’re not allowed to be mad at me anymore.”

Her sweet, childish voice slipped through the phone. Even from a distance, it made my ears itch.

“Claire,” I called.

“Yeah?”

“I want spicy hot pot tomorrow.”

I loved spicy hot pot—the cheap kind where you could get an entire pan for a few dozen dollars.

But my stomach was weak, so Claire had figured out how to make a version that wasn’t actually spicy but still carried the fragrance of chili peppers.

Both our families loved to tease us about it. We were supposed to be a powerful socialite couple, but we acted more like a working-class newlywed pair.

“Sure. Come to my office tomorrow. I’ll make it for you.”